Journal

Hi Students,

Rick Ward here in Antarctica at McMurdo station.

Rick and one of his tractors
Rick and one of his tractors. He fixes and drives these.

I am preparing for the summer Antarctic field season. My job here is to drive and maintain the tractors pulling sleds out to build a new field camp. This camp is a base so scientists can do their studies on a glacier called Pine Island out in western Antarctica.

Rick and a Tractor
Where will this tractor go with Rick? What will it pull?

The hard part of my job is to live in a tent in the Antarctic when we are out in the field. There are no roads or places to stop in along our route. We use GPSA Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system used to track the location or position of objects on the Earth’s surface. - Global Positioning Systems – that are in the tractors to find our way. We make new routes by following small flags on bamboo poles spaced at one quarter of a mile.

Road on the ice
Rick makes roads like this. Can you see the flags?

At home in Pollock Pines California I am a teacher. I teach automotive technology at a technical school in Sacramento California. That means I help students learn about all sorts of cars. Would you want to learn about cars and then come out to Antarctica to work on them? Would you want to drive them out to new places in Antarctica?

Water drop and Rick
The WATER DROP from the 5th Graders at Sacred Heart School in Saratoga, CA helped Rick work on his tractors.

Details
Author
Tina Sander
Date
Expedition
Antarctic Seafloor Ecology
Weather Summary
clear and sunny but gusty and windy
Temperature
20
Wind Speed
15
Wind Chill
6

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